Gizmorama - April 16, 2014

Good Morning,

When it comes to climate change - who's to blame? According to new statistical analysis, we are.

Learn about this interesting story and more from the scientific community in today's issue.

Until Next Time,
Erin

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*-- New study rules out natural factors as source of climate change --*
MONTREAL (UPI) - New statistical analysis suggests -- with 99 percent certainty -- that the planet is not warming as a result of natural causes. Instead of relying on complex mathematical models to predict the future effects of greenhouse gases, McGill University physics professor Shaun Lovejoy decided to test the plausibility of climate skeptics' contention that global warming is a natural process. Using temperature data collected from 1500 onward, Lovejoy crunched the numbers, and the math all but rules out the possibility that modern global warming is simply the natural fluctuation in the earth's climate. "This study will be a blow to any remaining climate-change deniers," Lovejoy said. "Their two most convincing arguments -- that the warming is natural in origin, and that the computer models are wrong -- are either directly contradicted by this analysis, or simply do not apply to it." Though Lovejoy's analytical techniques are different, his conclusions run concurrent with those of the recent report on global warming by International Panel on Climate Change. Lovejoy's study predicts that a doubling of carbon dioxide levels would result in a climate somewhere between 2.5 and 4.2 degrees Celsius warmer.


*-- Early asteroid dwarfed the one that killed the dinosaurs, scientists say --*
PALO ALTO (UPI) - Researchers from Stanford University say an asteroid that hit the Earth 3.26 billion years ago dwarfed the one that killed the dinosaurs. Causing the oceans to boil and the Earth to shake for half an hour, the rock hit the planet at approximately 44,000 miles per hour and was at least 23 miles in diameter. The impact center was greater than the distance between New York and Washington D.C. -- about 300 miles in diameter. The asteroid that ended the dinosaurs was about 6 miles in diameter and had an impact center 93 miles in diameter. "We knew it was big, but we didn't know how big," Donald Lowe, a geologist at Stanford University and a co-author of the study, said of the asteroid. The impact occurred during what scientists call the Late Heavy Bombardment and caused seismic waves similar to a 10.8-magnitude earthquake. Due to the erosion and movements of the Earth's crust, the craters left by the asteroids are gone. Scientists want to continue to learn about the asteroid impacts through studies of ancient rock formations. The research is to be published in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.

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